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Thanks to you and @princeperch for this - I was down that way on Saturday and couldn't quite believe how leafy and nice it felt, and I wondered if we were just lucky in getting a sunny day for it. I'm clearly going to need to upgrade my London psychogeography map!
ReekBlefs
Forest Gate is posh now.
We lived there and then couldn't afford it any more, and even when we lived there people's reactions to hearing where we lived switched from wincing to "la-di-dah". Obviously bits of it are still deprived and crime-ridden (it's in London) but the property market is ridiculous, and the new places that are opening (Italian deli, bars in the arches) seem to be able to sustain a clientele.
East Ham/Manor Park (where we are now) is a bit different. More affordable houses, but probably more extreme poverty as well - more homelessness and street drinking. Even so, since we moved here in 2019 there are now two places within a 3 minute walk where I can get a proper coffee and a croissant, and the community initiatives that Newham have allocated money for means that there are community gardens, tree planting and mini libraries sprouting up.